5 Awesome Facts to Know About Dark Chocolate
The reason why chocolate is so loved world over is because it increases the theta brain waves which actually induces relaxation. No wonder people love to eat dark chocolate because it produces the feeling of being ‘happy’. Here are 5 awesome facts to know about dark chocolates.
1. The word chocolate comes from the Aztec word ‘xoxolatl’ which mean ‘bitter water’. Chocolate was originally a beverage served hot or cold. It is made from cacao, the seed of the Theobroma tree. Before sugar was discovered on the Caribbean Islands by the Spanish conquerors, chocolate was a bitter drink. But now dark chocolate has more cacao than sugar and so is healthier. It has antioxidants and helps in reducing heart attack risk. The reason is because dark chocolate promotes healthy blood flows and helps in preventing plaque formation on the arteries.
2. Though Christopher Columbus bought the cacao beans into Europe in 1502, the world’s first chocolate house was opened in London in 1657. But then chocolate was a hot beverage and in the 1850s, Joseph Fry and Englishman changed the recipe to produce solid chocolates. Dark chocolate is produced using more of the coco and less of sugar and the coco beans actually help widen the arteries of the heart.
3. Research has shown that dark chocolate increases the HDL or good cholesterol and also improves insulin sensitivity. This helps in controlling both diabetes and cardiovascular problems. Eating dark chocolate every day or even five times a week is enough to reduce the risk of various heart diseases by 50%.
